Author Profiles
Ohio has a rich literary heritage as well as some wonderful contemporary authors. Learn more about them here! You can sort by various categories and see who has participated in our annual book festival by using the category search on the left, or search by keyword (including partial author names) by using the search field on the right.
James A. Willis
Not since the Headless Horseman went charging through Sleepy Hollow has something come out of the Hudson highlands of upstate New York as thrilling and chilling as author and paranormal researcher James A. Willis. Fueled by a steady diet of Boo Berry cereal, Creepy Magazine and late-night Vincent Price movies, Willis soon developed a taste for the unexplained and quickly began seeking out all things strange and spooky.
When he wasn’t trying to coax the boogeyman out from under his bed for a photo shoot, Willis pondered such eternal questions as what happens to us when we die, is there life on other planets, and what possesses someone to decorate their house with 1,001 milk jugs?
In 1999, after spending more than fifteen years chasing after ghosts and visiting crybaby bridges, Willis moved to Ohio and founded The Ghosts of Ohio (ghostsofohio.org), a nationally recognized paranormal research organization. Willis has grown the organization to well over 35 members in three divisions throughout the state: Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati.
In 2004, in what seemed to be destiny, Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman, the brains behind the Weird U.S. series of books, approached Willis and asked him to contribute to their latest volume. To date, Willis has been involved with six books in the Weird U.S. series. He is the co-author of Weird Ohio (2005) and Weird Indiana (2008) and was also a contributing author to Weird U.S. (2004), Weird Hauntings (2006), Weird US II: The ODDyssey Continues (2008), and Weird Encounters (2010). Willis’ unique and offbeat writing style was officially recognized in 2006 with his induction into the Grand Order of Weird Writers.
In addition, Willis has been a contributing author to several books in the Armchair Reader series, beginning with Weird, Scary & Unusual (2008) and continuing with several books released in 2010: Armchair Reader Goes Hollywood, Armchair Reader’s All about Ohio, and The Mammoth Armchair Reader. 2011 marked the release of Willis’ latest collaboration with Armchair Reader, Haunted America. For 2012, Willis released Haunted Indiana, his first work with Stackpole Books. In the fall of 2012, Willis’ The Big Book Of Ohio Ghost Stories was unleashed. Willis’ latest book, Ohio’s Historic Haunts, was released in late summer of 2015.
A sought-after public speaker, Willis has given presentations throughout the United States, during which he has educated and entertained tens of thousands of people of all ages in crowd sizes ranging from 10 to well over 600. He has also been featured in more than 50 media sources, including CNN, USA Today, Columbus Business First, Midwest Living, The Canadian Press, and even the Kuwait Times. He is also currently a contributing author to Mysteries Magazine.
Willis currently resides in Columbus, Ohio, with his wife and daughter, a Queen-loving parrot, and two narcoleptic cats. Visit him online at http://www.strangeandspookyworld.com.
Ashley Willow
Ashley Willow lives in a small town in Ohio where there isn’t much action or drama… so she stays up late creating her own in a world of fiction. She has always loved to write and can either be found writing, reading, or somehow doing both. As an avid reader, she creates stories she would want to read. When she isn’t writing, she can be found spending time with her husband, children, three cats, and her big hairy dogs. Currently, she has at least five books published with many more to come. She is very active on social media, so make sure you follow here there as well under @ashleywillowwrites
Misty Wilson
Retired 7th-grade football star Misty Wilson received her M.A.T. from Kent State University and currently teaches fourth grade. Her students, especially those struggling with their identity and where they fit in, inspired Misty to share her own story. Learn more about her book Play Like A Girl illustrated by David Wilson at http://www.mistywilsonwrites.com.
David Wilson
TBA Graphic Novel - HarperCollins, 2024
Great Lakes Tarot Deck - Belt Publishing, 2022
Play Like A Girl Graphic Novel - HarperCollins Sept. 2022
The Everyday Web Comic Collection - Belt Publishing 2020
The Disposal of Dead Ned Feature Film (Winner, Best Dark Comedy - Poor Life Choices Film Fest)
Rust Belt Arcana - Belt Publishing 2018 SOCIAL
Instagram: @downpourdw
Twitter: @downpourdw
Vimeo: vimeo.com/davidjohnwilson
Spam Newsletter: tinyletter.com/DavidWilson Check out his website: https://www.workdavidwork.com/Read More
David Wilson assumes many roles—illustrator, designer, writer, and filmmaker. For work or speaking inquiries please contact: David@workdavidwork.com
PROJECTS
TBA Graphic Novel – HarperCollins, 2024
Great Lakes Tarot Deck – Belt Publishing, 2022
Play Like A Girl Graphic Novel – HarperCollins Sept. 2022
The Everyday Web Comic Collection – Belt Publishing 2020
The Disposal of Dead Ned Feature Film (Winner, Best Dark Comedy – Poor Life Choices Film Fest)
Rust Belt Arcana – Belt Publishing 2018
SOCIAL
Instagram: @downpourdw
Twitter: @downpourdw
Vimeo: vimeo.com/davidjohnwilson
Spam Newsletter: tinyletter.com/DavidWilson
Check out his website: https://www.workdavidwork.com/
Jack Wilson
Jack Wilson spent more than thirty-five years in public service, beginning as a Peace Corps administrator in Sierra Leone, Washington, DC, and Fiji, and continuing as an administrator of environmental protection programs in Ohio and Kentucky.
Angene Wilson
Angene Wilson is professor emeritus of education at the University of Kentucky, where she was chair of the secondary social studies program from 1975 to 2004. She is the author of The Meaning of International Experience for Schools and coauthor of Social Studies and the World: Teaching Global Perspectives.
Stacy Windahl
Stacy Windahl, Kenyon College graduate with an MBA is a wife, mother, MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) mentor and freelance writer. For 16 years, she has worked with Young Life Communications. She writes from her home along the Lake Erie shore where she and her family celebrate all things Cleveland. Stacy and Jody share a love of Young Life, pixie dust and fairy tales. Read more at StacyWindahl.com.
Kerry Winfrey
Kerry Winfrey is the author of WAITING FOR TOM HANKS, a romantic comedy from Berkley, as well as the YA novels LOVE AND OTHER ALIEN EXPERIENCES and THINGS JOLIE NEEDS TO DO BEFORE SHE BITES IT, both from Feiwel and Friends. When she’s not writing, she’s most likely baking a pie or watching far, far too many romantic comedies. She lives with her husband, son, and dog in the middle of Ohio.
Mary Ann Winkowski
Mary Ann Winkowski was born in Cleveland, Ohio and has been communicating with earthbound spirits for most of her life. Her earliest memories include talking to spirits of the deceased as if they were living people and helping these entities cross over into the White Light.
Over the course of work as a paranormal investigator, Mary Ann’s reputation has spread. She is a consultant to the CBS hit television show Ghost Whisperer, has appeared on numerous TV and radio news programs, and spoken at countless lectures. What once she between raising two daughters, foster parenting, and pet grooming has now become a fulltime vocation.
Still living and working primarily in the Cleveland area, Mary Ann has offered her abilities to those in need as far away as New Mexico, St. Lucia, and Scotland. In When Ghosts Speak: Understanding the World of Earthbound Spirits (Grand Central Publishing, October 2007) Mary Ann shares a lifetime’s worth of information about the spirit world and reveals her often surprising interactions with some memorable ghosts.
Mary Ann shows the human side of the paranormal — stories about ghosts told from the perspectives of the ghosts themselves – and teaches us how we can coexist peaceably with the spirits that surround us.
Unlike the sensationalized tales of most ghost lore, When Ghosts Speak presents real stories of troubled people — both the living and the dead — not simply the terror of sinister paranormal manifestations served up by horror novels and Hollywood.
Mary Ann offers lessons on death and the immortality of the spirit that only someone who can actually speak with the deceased could teach. Her abilities have offered solace to countless people, either by reuniting them with loved ones who have died or by removing unwanted spirits and negative energy from homes, businesses or possessions.
Eric Wittenberg
Eric J. Wittenberg is a lifelong Philadelphia Phillies fan and native of southeastern Pennsylvania. Having grown up in the early 1970s, he understands losing baseball teams. He is a lawyer in private practice and an award-winning Civil War historian. He and his wife Susan reside in Columbus, Ohio, where he struggles to follow his beloved Phillies.